Inside The Mariners

Brady's Spin: It's Sad What Has Happened to Seattle Mariners' OF Mitch Haniger

As the Seattle Mariners hit the off day on Thursday, it's very clear that the role is declining for Mitch Haniger, and that's just sad to see.

Brady Farkas

Seattle Mariners pinch hitter Mitch Haniger (17) points to the dugout after hitting a walk-off single against the Chicago White Sox during the tenth inning at T-Mobile Park.
Seattle Mariners pinch hitter Mitch Haniger (17) points to the dugout after hitting a walk-off single against the Chicago White Sox during the tenth inning at T-Mobile Park. / Steven Bisig-USA TODAY Sports
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It's sad to see what has happened to Seattle Mariners' outfielder Mitch Haniger.

When the team re-acquired him this offseason in a trade with the San Francisco Giants, there was optimism that he would help replace the production left behind by the departure of Teoscar Hernandez. There was also hope that returning to a comfortable setting would unlock his prior production, but it just hasn't happened.

Through 244 at-bats, Haniger is hitting a meager .213 with six homers. He does have 30 RBI, which is actually more than Julio Rodriguez, but he's got a .608 OPS and a -0.7 WAR.

Furthermore, he's got a 78 OPS+ (where 100 is average). He is also a generally poor defender and has a UZR of -6.0 according to Fangraphs.

Sadly, Haniger is doing almost nothing well for Seattle and he's been relegated to a bench role - if you can even call it that. He didn't start any of the three games in this most recent series against the Tampa Bay Rays, giving way to Dom Canzone in the outfield and Mitch Garver/Cal Raleigh at designated hitter. He has only nine at-bats in his last seven days and is hitting just .154 against lefties, meaning he can't even really play on that side of a platoon.

Haniger is likely only on the roster at this point because he carries a $17.5 million player option for 2025 that the M's will be on the hook for either way, but if the production doesn't tick up at all, they may cut bait regardless.

I encourage you to listen to this recent podcast snippet from Jason Churchill (@ProspectInsider) from Mitch Levy's show:

The financial aspect of all this stinks for the team, but the reason why this is really so hard is because the outfielder is a beloved figure in recent Mariners lore. He's someone who ascended with the organization as it gave its last pushes of the Felix Hernandez, Robinson Cano and Nelson Cruz era, and then stuck with the organization through its subsequent rebuild.

He stayed loyal, battled injury, overcame obstacles, narrowly took the team to the playoffs in 2021 with his 39-homer campaign and got to see the team break the drought in 2022. He's done a lot for the Mariners in his career, but he's not doing almost anything for them now.

And that's just tough to see.

The Mariners will play the Minnesota Twins on Friday at 6:40 p.m. PT.

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Brady Farkas

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